My Friends: The Mushrooms, Leprechauns and Bear

[If you should bother to waste some amount of time reading this, this is a story I wrote for fun in Form 2. Have fun!]

Part I – Crickets and Mushrooms and What Not

Once upon a night, I heard a dim, tinkling music outside my bedroom window. It was a faint jingling, a tingling rhythm, a tinkly tinkly tink to my ears. I strained my ears to listen, and what a soft but sure melody it was! I longed to see what it was that made that beautiful song.
I made such minimal sounds and such great care to open my window. The sound waves were much less dimmed as I stepped out into night. A warm breeze blew from the direction of the moon, stirring the leaves of the trees ever so slightly.
The music was coming from somewhere behind my house. I tip-toed silently, following the direction of the sound, towards a cluster of tall trees. I stopped behind a large apple tree just a distance away from where I imagined the sound was coming from. From where I stood, there was a circle of mushrooms in the middle of the clearing at the center of the ring of large trees.
I climbed up the apple tree to a height where the mushrooms were clearly visible. It was then that my eyes caught sight of several tiny green insects, probably crickets from what I know. To my surprise, they were each playing a fiddle, making a harmonious sound. They were singing, too, and their song was something like this:

The night is blue,
What might we do?
The moon is pretty,
So let us party!

I almost clapped my hands in joy! Oh what a nice dream this was going to be! But I remained silent and my eyes kept watching intently.
As soon as the tiny little musicians had ended their song, sparks of light began to appear from within the undergrowth. To my astonishment, from among the grass and trees flew in a great number of shimmering and glimmering winged creatures, singing and dancing with the magical tune. They could not have been fireflies – believe me, they were fairies, gnomes and elves! They sang a song, too:

Yes we’ll party! We’ll party!
We’ll party the night away!
We’ll eat and be merry!
So come and join the fray!

I was mesmerized – I was stunned! My eyebrows twitched and I was in fits from containing my laughter. One fairy had wings like a moth’s that kept radiating silver dusts. One small and seemingly young one was playing with his friends and they were joined by a band of impish creatures dancing the night away. This was just like the fairy tales that I heard and read about! Surely this was not real!
I thought, this has to be a dream! I shook my head. Nope, those were hallucinations, probably from reading too much of the Chronicles of Narnia. Only science is real and God is real. But surely not these things! “No, there is no such thing,” I muttered. “This is all nonsense…”
To my horror, the fairies heard me!
A silence so deep, so scary followed. My own eyes saw the magical beings abruptly turned towards me with eyes of anger. They were swirling in mad streaks of light. A new song came forth with vengeance!

We heard a sound – a wicked noise!
Of evil perils that destroy!
We will screech; we raise our voice!
To seek and devastate this horrid ploy!

I had chills all over my back. What are they going to do to me? I thought in fear. It just seemed too real to be a dream. Oh, shiver me timbers!!
An elderly fairy flew up to my level, with glaring eyes and wings that were constantly shedding shining and fiery flakes. She pointed a crooked finger at me, and began to chant an unnerving song.

Gone with you, evil beast!
Thou shan’t stop our joyful feast!
Now thou shall flare and no more grease
You shall be the very least!

In an instant I was engulfed in flames, an experience I had never felt before. I felt a thousand eyes glaring and flaring upon me. Thank goodness my senses had not yet registered any feeling or pain when I was thrown into darkness… oh fear!!


Part II – Leprechauns

I woke up the next morning feeling dizzy and shaken. There was a song stuck in my head. I wondered if it was a dream. A tinkly tinkly...
After brushing and washing and doing my morning duties of which you would not want to know in full details, I went out of the house for my daily jog around the neighbourhood. However, I was curious to see if the back of my house fit the dream, supposing it was a dream.
I reached the cluster of trees that looked all too familiar. To my relief, there was only a patch of grass with no mushrooms, no fairies, only the trees and the greens. I attempted to climb the apple tree like I had done in my dream, but strangely, it was quite a bit more difficult than it was before.
The birds in the air were chirping gaily, and the sky was clear and sunny, so I decided to lean against the trunk of the tree and enjoy the morning air. The tune from the fairies’ party came back into my head, so I whistled the song.
Suddenly, as if responding to the magical tune, the tree began to rustle and shake. I heard voice above me, below me, all around me! In an instant, the leaves began to move independently. I gasped in fright, for there were little green men all over the tree!
One small green-man head no larger than a tennis ball popped out right in front of my face, upside down, probably hanging from a twig.
“Hey! Where did you hear that song? It’s a MagicWood song and a MagicWood only song, you know!”
Caught by shock and alarm, I fell off the tree and landed flat on the ground, cushioned by a couple more green men underneath me. I quickly got up and took a fleeting look around. A hundred or so small pairs of eyes stared down at me, another hundred or so from below.
“Who the heck are you people?!” I cried in distress.
“Relax, dude,” said one green man, sitting on a tree branch. “We’re leprechauns! We are the ancient creatures that grant your wishes!”
I looked at him suspiciously. “Why do you speak to me?”
The leprechaun grinned. “Well, we heard you singing the magical dancing song of MagicWood, so we decided to investigate. We all turn into leaves when normal people are looking, you see.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really,” I said.
“Oh yes, so the next time you decide to pluck a leaf off, remember me,” replied the green man.
I frowned. Right, like I would believe that this was not just a ploy of the government to encourage environmental friendliness. “Prove it. I wish for a pot of gold!”
The leprechaun laughed. “Oh, a bag of gold you shall have!” he cried in glee.
The next instant, a clay pot appeared out of nowhere beside me, filled to the brim with shinning gold coins. The coins looked like they were pulsating and radiating heat. I looked at them in distrust but my mind was reeling. Surely this was not a dream! Or was it those looping dreams, when I wake up from a dream in yet another dream…?
“I wish… to grow taller!” Now, you see, I am on the short side, so you would not blame me for wishing that, would you?
“Hmm… I could make you taller than the Twin Towers or the Taipei 101… come on, man, be specific!” The leprechaun was now hanging from the branch. The other green men had left the scene and were working on a machine called the Transpirchaun, a device for absorbing water into the tree for easy access to water.
“Err… as tall and as well-built as Mr. Matthew Chin!”
The leprechaun cocked his head. “Who?”
I gasped. “How could you not know him?!”
The green man suddenly looked very much upset. Several sparks of dark purple magic dusts were zigzagging out of his ears, and then he began to shaking in anger. “I… must... oh I cannot do this…”
I blinked. Hello, is my dream going for an exciting twist? What, is it taboo to wish for something impossible?
“Aaargghh!! You wished for the impossible!!!”
Oops…
The other green men were now gathering around the angry little leprechaun, staring at me with evil eyes. I gulped, I shivered, like the night before… I mean, like in the dream. They were chanting…

Away with you! You childish imp!
Away for making the silly wish!
Run away you childish wimp!
Run before we steam you like a fish!

I took a step or two back, and then many steps back. I would rather not try my fate and get engulfed in flames or whatnot. After a last glance, I fled the tree and their green inhabitants.

Part III – Stars and Bears

I huffed, and I puffed, and I was nearly blown away by the rushing wind of the East. Alas, my energy had long gone, and with my growling stomach and aching bones, I trod the grass and weeds to collapse under a short but wide tree.
When I came to my senses again, I was in an unfamiliar place. Perhaps this was MagicWood? For the air seemed magical and the grass was so sweet-smelling. Butterflies, or perhaps fairies in disguise, were flying about and dancing in such a beautiful sway.
Oh, nope, this was just the Friendship Park – haha!
But my stomach was still hungry, so I scouted the area for any kind passerby to offer me some food. Damn, the small restaurant by the lake was closed. In fact, there was nobody there. Strange, would you not think?
Then I heard a growl, a sound of animal pleasure, if you would call it like that. I peeped over the hedge, and there was a bear, a cub I presumed, rolling around in the grass, enjoying the grassy massage thoroughly. It was pulling out the flowers and munching them, not even noticing me. I was thinking how good it was that the bear did not see me when my eyes thought they were dreaming… a jar of honey just a stone’s throw away from the cub’s playing ground. Not far away, too, was a bee hive fresh from destruction. Ah, that explains the rolling around of the bear that possibly got seriously stung by the bees.
I crept up to the jar of honey. Oh the smell was so delicious; I could taste it in my mouth already! My stomach was screaming in desperation but I had to be wary, for I heard that bears are capable of smacking people to death.
The temptation was too strong, so I dipped my hand into the jar of honey, scooped up a little and licked, then I scooped up a little more and licked the sweet, sweet honey off my palms – oh it was sheer heaven!
Unfortunately, I was savouring every drop of honey with plenty of oohs and ahhs in such great extent that the cub was aware of my crossing the threshold of his home. What an angry cub it suddenly was! When I saw the blistering anger in its eyes, I dropped the jar of honey, breaking it into many pieces. The honey was spilling all over the ground. Now the bear was really, really mad!
I tried to run, but there was no beating an angry bear in running! The cub was now at full height, stomping its way towards me, and it was not a very cute sight! In a flash, the cub had caught hold of me, and with a big whack, he smacked my brains out of my head!
Now, you must realize that the human brains (the left, right, front and back brains – most smarter-than-average people possess these brains) are not completely connected to the head, and a human being is capable of surviving without his or her brain for 24 hours, for a human being does not need to think in order to survive, you see.
So, the bear had smacked the brains out of me, and I saw my brain fly up, up, up into the sky, into the stars above. You can imagine how upset I was! I scurried out of the bear’s grip and ran off towards the woods.
I ran, and I ran, and I ran, not even thinking of where I was going, because without my brain, I could not think! My legs carried me up onto the hills, over the rivers and lakes, across plains and valleys, until I came upon the highest peak of the highest mountain. There, I pleaded with the stars to return me my brain, for life without thinking was life without meaning, indeed!
Thankfully, the stars were very kind today, for the moon had given them a holiday recently. My brain, a lump of cells slightly larger than my fist, came down on a cloud of shimmering dust. I grabbed it and stuffed it into my head. I could think again! I would never again take for granted my ability to think!
Thus, with my restored brain and a mind frizzled by the string of events, I took a flight at a nearby airport – I think it was the Himal-Ayarport, where tourists from all over the world come to see the highest mountain in the world. Once home, I went straight for my bed, dived under the covers and slept the whole day.


Part IV – My Friends

One day, I stepped unto someone’s shoe, I brushed my friend’s shoulder the wrong way and I bumped into a young lady with a full chest once. For that, I was condemned and slammed for months!
Surely, I said a few too many wrong things, I hurt a few too many people, until one day, my friend, Damien Chong, denounced me as his friend. I was so sad and depressed, for it was really the drip of hair-dye that destroyed Britney Spear’s hair. But as I was walking home and I caught sight of the cluster of trees, I remembered the string of events starting from that strange night at that mysterious place…

The story goes that elves and fairies
Meet at night to dance and be merry
Among the mushrooms and toadstools
Where science is taboo and doctors are fools
Indeed the day of misfortune came
When I heard the tale of this magical game
And I, a mouth of unbeknown blame
Gave the fairies an ugly name
Oh the misfortune, when one took aim
And gone I was in a bright flame:
Oh what ugliness, oh what shame!

One had told of small green things
I met one day in a wood so green
Oh how they laugh and how they sing!
They granted wishes like I had never seen!
But oh the misfortune and the pain
When I wished the impossible wish
Had I not run I would have been slain
So run I did before I became a cannibal’s dish

Then I came upon a cub
Rolling around destroying flowers
I saw a jar of honey, so I joined the club
But oh what misfortune when it came back in an hour!
And smack it did upon my face
I heard a click and then a crack
Thus sent my brains spinning into space
But thank the stars – they sent it back!

How painful it all was! But in the end
On a sunny day so clear and fair
I walked the streets and saw a friend
But realized, I, that like apple and pear
Some fruits just do not blend
Like me, like mushrooms, leprechauns and bear…
There ain’t no difference I can mend!